The endgame
by Janvierecouter
Summary: The best way to end a game is to go out with a bang. 17 realized his ending was going to be with a whimper. (Future timeline one-shot)


_'Wake up…hey...wake up!'_

He heard that familiar voice nudging him awake.

His programming booted up before his vision, scanning his environment. He was badly damaged, it told him. The blast had destroyed vital parts of his body. He couldn't move anymore. He desperately needed repairs, but there was nobody left to help him.

He managed to force his eyelids open, but what for? He still couldn't see anything. Rocks and debris had buried him completely underneath the city ruins. He coughed as dust entered his lungs. He shouldn't breathe and just rely on his mechanisms to keep him alive, but it hurt. It hurt more than he remembered pain ever did. When was the last time he felt pain?

He had gotten used to dominating everything on the planet. For the past 20 or so years, him and his sister had asserted themselves as the de-facto rulers of Earth. First by eliminating the only one who could shut them down, then by eliminating the only ones that could stop them. One by one, the fighters that stood in their way went down like flies. They had won so easily, he had completely forgotten what defeat looked like.

The purple-haired kid they met a couple of times came back stronger than ever before. The one being left on this planet that was similar to them in both strength and abilities. The one they failed to kill. No, the one they _refused_ to kill. At least, in the beginning. He was brash and courageous, but lacked experience and power. But more importantly, he was a glutton for punishment. The perfect punching bag.

However, with time, he had gotten more and more annoying and thus, became boring to play with. Eventually, they saw no more use for the kid so they decided to get rid of him.

The first time he escaped, it was pure luck. The second time, it was sloppy execution. He had given 18 permission to blast him to pieces and she underestimated how tough he was. They left him there under the rubble of the city, taking him for dead.

The same thing the kid did with him now.

17 coughed again, more dust sticking to the inside of his lungs as he drew in a sharp breath. He didn't want to breathe, but he had to. It kept the blood and pain numbing fluids flowing to his tissues.

The doctor had foreseen events such as these. Most of his mechanisms were adjusted to work symbiotically with his organic body, and in doing so required specialized designs. In order to fulfill his purpose, he had to be durable and he had to be kept away from distractions as much as possible. As such, his senses were dulled enough to be able to keep fighting even after sustaining heavy damage. This also had the side effect of numbing his emotions and sense of perception. That was why, despite his current predicament, he felt no fear or sense of urgency.

He tried to move the rocks away from his chest, but he couldn't. He had no limbs to move them with. He was completely helpless, doomed to lie there under the rubble. His body didn't require nourishment to survive and his energy never ran out. He could stay there, buried for years, with nobody even aware of his existence.

Except that he was bleeding out. His open wounds bled profusely, trickling down the slabs that crushed them like an underwater river. Funny how his human side was going to be his undoing. His programming was in full damage control, trying to stop the blood flow to his stumps. It was annoying, hearing a voice that wasn't his own echoing in his head, telling him to fix something he couldn't. He forced it to shut down and let him be.

He wanted things to be quiet. He wanted to wait out his inevitable demise in peace, his mind wandering through meaningless nothings he should or shouldn't have done before he finally lost consciousness for good.

It wasn't the kind of ending he wanted for himself. He had always expected himself to go out with a bang. Instead, he was going out with a whimper.

He wanted to call out to her, find out where she was. Was she still alive?

No. He had seen her blown to pieces by the kid's blast, so quickly she had no time to react in any way. Her leg landed on the ground close to him, he saw that. There was no way she survived. There just wasn't. She truly was gone.

So then, why wasn't he more worked up about it?

Even at the moment it happened, he barely registered it. The person he had spent his entire life with. The one who knew him better than anyone, the only one who shared his condition. He had never imagined they'd ever part in such gruesome ways. He just expected her to leave one day, having had enough of his dismissive attitude and childish ways. He expected her to stew about it for a while and then come back, like she always did. He never wanted to see her die.

And yet, when it did happen, he felt next to nothing. He had become so numb to killing, even _her_ death barely meant anything to him. He had truly become an emotionless husk, the only joy he felt coming from an ever crazier hunt using humans as live targets.

He realized, he had truly become the cold, ruthless machine the doctor created him to be. The same doctor he killed because he hated being used as such. In the end, he was doing exactly what he was programmed for, even though he had told himself that he was free. Somewhere in Hell, the doctor was probably smiling, pleased with himself over his creation's achievements.

He grit his teeth. _Damn that man._

He felt like he deserved this, but at the same time, he didn't feel responsible for anything. These killings he did felt so surreal. He had been a regular human for the entirety of his youth. These powers he was granted were otherworldly, like a video game. Being able to destroy a planet…no, _the universe_, was something you could only do in fiction. And when you had power you were supposed to use it to its full potential. Just one blast wiped out thousands. So many deaths in one blow...He never bothered to understand what it meant, he only bothered to count them. It had just occurred to him that by human standards, he was a serial killer.

He let out a loud sigh. He didn't care if it hurt his lungs anymore, he didn't have much time left anyway.

* * *

"Mom, I think I heard someone!"

It was a girl's voice, one he had never heard before. She sounded rather concerned as she reached for him.

She called for help with removing the heavy slab covering his face.

The 2 women took a long time to pull it off and when the light hit him, it hurt his eyes and made him squint. It was the middle of the day, it seemed. A hot, bright, summer day. A day he would usually spend lazing indoors or finding new games to play, but was now forced to endure.

"He's alive! Mom, he's alive!" the girl called upon seeing him grimace.

He turned his gaze towards her, using her form to block out the offending light. She was a generic teenage girl, medium height, medium build, long brown hair and large, innocent brown eyes. A girl he wouldn't look twice at while burning down a city.

"Hang in there, we'll get you out!" she told him, snapping him back to reality.

Why did she even care? Didn't she know who he was?

No...she probably didn't. Most people didn't.

Those that saw them rarely lived long enough to tell others what they looked like. That was how they were able to play this game for so long. They looked so average, most people didn't react at all upon seeing them. Only when they floated in the air and charged scatter shots did pedestrians realize the situation they were in. They had made a habit of blending into large crowds, only to start firing at them when they were the most distracted. They could hit a lot of targets that way and rake up a nice kill count for themselves.

They had kept the game going for many, many years, wanting to see who got the highest score. Until the last human on earth died at their hands, the game was still on. He even knew he was ahead of 18 by exactly…

"Can you hear me? It's going to be alright" the girl insisted, trying to get his attention.

She managed to pull the rocks off his body and slide him down to the ground, propping him up against a wall. He had been buried rather high up underneath a crumbled building, it seemed.

"Oh god, he's really hurt. Mom, go get help right now!" she told the older woman besides her upon seeing his wounds and she complied, running away and out of sight as quickly as possible.

He saw nobody else in this deserted town. How did they stumble upon him?

"Stay with me, ok? I'll put some pressure on your wounds and..." she stopped when she pulled up his sleeve. She could see the inside of his shoulder as a couple of strangely colored fluids leaked out from the cut tubes wrapped around his veins. The machinery in his arm let out a few parks upon contact with the air.

She let go immediately and stumbled backwards, putting good distance between themselves. Her facial expression changed from one of pity into a twisted glare full of fear and malice.

_That_ face, he had seen quite often.

"_You_..." she spat, circling him defensively.

"You're one of them! You're one of the androids!" she raised her voice, pointing at him accusingly.

He smiled at her. His reputation preceded him.

"You were supposed to be dead! The young man from Capsule Corp assured us you were both dead! He...he said…we were all safe now. Why would he…lie to us…" Her voice trickled down as she spoke, tears welling in her eyes.

"Sorry to disappoint you" he chuckled, coughing up blood from his mouth. This wasn't good, it meant his lungs had been completely filled up. He didn't have long left. But he'd rather the girl not know that.

She let out a scream of anger as she threw a large rock at his face. It fell down in his lap, having no effect on him.

He watched her grab an even larger rock in both hands, dragging herself towards him. She used all her strength to lift it above her head and smashed it against his cranium. Again and again, trying to crack him open. Hoping beyond hope that she could finish him off right there. All the while screaming and crying at the top of her lungs until her throat became hoarse.

She paused between blows, looking to see if he was going to go down, but he never did. He didn't react at all, as if her hits didn't even phase him. He just stared at her as one would a crazy person, waiting for her to finish. It only strengthened her resolve and she kept going.

"You filthy bastard!" she spat as she drew her breath. "Do you even realize the damage you caused? The people you murdered?"

He didn't say anything. He just let her unload all her anger on him, as all humans probably wanted to do. He couldn't stop her anyway.

"What did my father do to you? What did he do to deserve this?" she cried again as her arms grew tired and she dropped the rock down by her feet. She was shaking in both exhaustion and hate. "He only walked into town. He wanted to get some food for me and my mother. That's all he did! I…I told him not to go...I told him…"

She had completely used up all strength and fell to her knees in front of him, sobbing. She couldn't even dent him. Even in his condition, he was far too resilient for her to kill him. She drew in a large gulp of air to calm herself down.

"Do you have any idea what you did?" she repeated between breaths.

"Of course I do" he answered in a low voice. "I wouldn't've done it if I didn't"

She lifted her gaze to stare him in the eyes, completely taken aback. He felt no remorse at all. Truly a heartless monster.

"Do you think humans are just inferior creatures, like ants? Waiting to be stomped?" she grabbed the fabric of her pants tightly, looking down. She couldn't stand to look at him anymore. She had hoped to be there to see him die, but when she finally got her wish, it felt underwhelming. He wasn't upset at all. If anything, he seemed at peace with himself even after everything he had done. She felt defeated.

"No. Not at all" came the calm reply.

"Then why? Why are you doing this?"

"Because…it's fun"

"What?"

She didn't understand at all.

"Because it feels good. It feels good when they die" He turned his head to the side, looking behind her. The sun had started to set in the distance, slowly making its way towards the horizon. It had been a long time since he last watched a sunset. It was soothing.

"You…really are beyond saving" she managed after a long pause.

He smiled again. It wasn't a very confident smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

How did he even have the nerve to smile at a moment like this was beyond her.

"I know." he let out, more blood trickling from his mouth as he opened it.

She looked down, seeming lost. She tore off her sleeves and dressed his wounds tightly, slowing down the bleeding.

What a strange, strange human. First she berates him, now she takes pity on him?

"I…came to you because I heard your voice. I thought maybe there were survivors here, even after all these weeks. I know that if my father had somehow survived the attack 5 years ago, I would've wanted someone to pull him out of there and care for him." she explained herself.

"So you wanted to prove to me that you're the better person" he analyzed her position, still looking at the sky behind her, barely acknowledging her presence.

"I guess I did. I wanted you to know that we humans are more than the vermin you think we are"

He chuckled.

"I never saw humanity as inferior" he shook his head dismissively at her accusation.

"Then why are you killing us?"

He hadn't given it much thought before. He had done it again and again, but never thought to himself _why_. He knew he hated them. He hated them viscerally. But at the same time, he clung to his own remnants of humanity as tightly as he could. Why was that? Why did he hate what he tried so hard to preserve?

"Because…I can't _be_ you anymore"

The most truthful thing he had said in a long time. He figured, since he was going to die anyway, may as well get this off his chest. He wondered if, in a similar situation, 18 would've given the same answer.

The girl seemed taken aback by his answer, but then she calmed down and smiled back.

"I see" she answered in a calm tone mirroring his own and got up to her feet.

She turned to leave, going towards the same direction as her mother.

"Well, I hope this outcome is everything you hoped it would be" she told him as coldly as she could, walking away.

He waited until she was out of earshot before answering her.

"More or less."

* * *

She ran into the older woman as she came back for her with a pack of what appeared to be first aid trinkets.

"I couldn't find a doctor, but I packed out things and.." her mother started but the girl cut her off.

"It's fine. They're not needed anymore" the girl stopped her in her tracks, looking perfectly calm as she pulled her mother towards a different location to look for people.

She had come to North City to pay honor to her father and friends, but she never expected to run into the situation at hand. It had truly been an eye opener.

"Why? Did he…did he die?" her mother asked, shock and grief obvious in her tone.

"Yes, he did. A long time ago, in fact" the girl replied knowingly.

* * *

_'17….'_

_Her voice again._

He had lasted a long time. He had made it through the night and in the morning, he was still breathing. He was far more resilient than he expected to be.

It was already day by the time he completely came to his senses. Has it been one day or more? He couldn't tell anymore.

He had stopped counting the days since he had been turned into a cyborg a long time ago. After all, what was the point anymore? He and his sister were ageless so they had no real way to tell. Days had quickly turned into years and he didn't even realize it. He had forgotten how old he was anymore. He had forgotten how long he'd terrorized the planet for. Only boredom let him know that he'd been playing the same game over and over.

The purple haired kid had been his only point of reference left. He had seen him as a toddler, running away with his mother as the child's father got in between to fight them. He had seen him again as a preteen when he tried to stop them from destroying an amusement park. Then again when he was a young teenager, using his golden glow power up to try to even the odds.

And now, he saw him one last time a couple of weeks ago, when he came back stronger than ever imagined and finally put them down.

It felt strange, watching a person grow up before you while you stayed the same. He realized he could've been the boy's father given their age gap, but now the child was at least the same physical age as him. It pissed him off.

The last two times they met, he had truly tried to kill him. He truly wanted to never see that kid again. He never wanted to be reminded of the passing of time. He didn't want to accept that he was trapped in a doll-like body forever.

And that was why he had given up trying to remember.

The sun was up all the way now, bathing his hair in golden light. He had been standing there alone against that wall all this time, waiting.

"I'm surprised you survived" came the all too familiar voice.

Speak of the devil.

"Hana told me I'd find you here. I didn't believe her at first, but it turns out she was telling the truth. Guess I should've checked you were truly dead before leaving you" the kid told him as he approached him. He bent over to assess his wounds. 17 inwardly scoffed. He didn't want to be looked down upon by him of all people.

The girl from yesterday. She went to get him. She told him where he was. _That snitch_.

"You've been bleeding here like this for the past 4 days…I'm impressed you haven't passed out yet" the boy continued.

_4 days, was it._

He wasn't answering, but the kid seemed to be expecting it. The purple haired saiyan stood there before him, just as calm and confident as he always was. The cyborg smiled. Guess he might've rubbed off on him after all their encounters. Or maybe it was just the boy knowing he had the upper hand over him which lead to this attitude.

"I didn't know you cared, kid" 17 replied sarcastically, forcing himself to lift his body a little bit to try to look him in the eyes. He wanted to pretend like he didn't mind his predicament, like it was one of their usual talks.

"My name is Trunks" the kid replied, bending over to his level and extending his arm in an insulting handshake.

"17. Pleased to meet you" he shot back just as sarcastically, the smile never dropping from his lips. He wasn't easily rattled by something like this.

"I know. We've met before"

"I don't think we've actually stopped to have a chat like this, did we?" the cyborg chuckled, closing his eyes for a moment. It was getting difficult to talk so much.

"We did. But you wouldn't know" Trunks said, looking away from him.

What was that supposed to mean? The kid was full of mysteries.

"You had a real chance." the boy continued. Their dialogue had turned into a monologue as 17 just listened to him talk. "A real chance to change. Both of you. You have it in you to do it. I actually wanted to give you this chance 4 weeks ago when I came back, but you wouldn't listen. I guess I had to pluck you like a rose to get you to sit down and listen to me"

A chance, he said? Bullshit.

"I…think you got the wrong person, kid." He paused to cough out the dried blood in his lungs restraining him from talking. "What kind of chance do you think someone like me ever had?"

"I might have been naïve 4 weeks ago, but I thought that maybe it wasn't too late. Your other self had proven it to me"

17 squinted at him. It might have been the sun burning him too hard or just the saiyan's weird statement, but he felt quite lost at the moment.

"I'm a time traveler" Trunks continued, explaining his situation "I went to the past to kill you before you destroyed the world. I didn't manage that, but I did get you to stop before any of this happened. And it wasn't even my doing. You stopped on your own."

He found all of this hard to believe, but he continued to listen.

"I wondered on my way back what changed. Why you let us live, why you gave up on your path of destruction, why you settled down and became normal, just like everyone else. Why you started families. Why you found joy in being with the humans you seem to hate so much here"

"Why did we?" 17 asked him, letting out a long sigh he didn't realize he was holding.

"Guess you can't tell me in this timeline either" the saiyan pouted, shaking his head.

"What makes you think you can fix me?"

"In this timeline, I don't. You've shown time and again that you've renounced your dignity and your humanity. When I first met you, I never assumed you had any emotions to begin with"

"And now?"

"Now, I don't know anymore."

Good call.

"A lot has changed with you, but not as much as I thought it would. And yet, the timeline I left behind ended up as a completely different world. I truly wonder what happened."

"I wonder too. I'd love to meet this different me and ask him that personally." 17 chuckled but was cut short by a sharp pain traveling from the pit of his stomach all the way to his heart. Something was definitely ruptured. An emergency scan told him his energy supply had shut down. He was going to lose function in his organs by the end of the day. This truly was the end for him.

Might as well make it now.

"You know, despite you telling me all this, I still have no regrets. I lived my life as I wanted to. I did everything I felt like with nobody to tell me otherwise. I enjoyed myself all these years. So much so, that dying feels like a waste. There are still _so, so many humans left to kill on this planet_!" he laughed.

He laughed as heartily and evilly as he could, blood spewing out with every sound. His pain killer generator had stopped working and he now felt the full brunt of the damage. He tried his best to contain it as he continued laughing, letting the boy know he was serious about what he said earlier.

"I see your point" the boy sighed. He expected something like this.

"So what do you say we finish this game? First one to die loses"

"Guess I'll play for once" Trunks finished, charging up an energy ball in his hand. "I'd rather this wasn't how we parted ways, but we both know it has to be done"

17 closed his eyes, an expression of relief spreading across his strained face.

"It's fine. Me and 18 will be waiting for you in Hell once the time comes. Do visit us"

"You won't see her. Hell isn't what you think it is. I should know, since I've already been to the afterlife. Everyone has their own pocket world where they're forced to face their worst fears for all eternity. You and your sister will never meet again"

He was truly disappointed. He didn't want to believe him, but deep down, he was sure the boy told him the truth. He was going to be alone, forever. He had never been alone before. His sister was always there. He realized he didn't need any other kind of torture. This was more than enough.

He didn't know if he was still capable of crying, but he truly wanted to.

"Goodbye, 17."

The energy ball in the saiyan's hand grew bigger and bigger until it completely blocked out the sun. It was so bright, he couldn't see anything anymore.

* * *

_'Hey!'_

_Her voice was louder than ever before. He wasn't just hearing things earlier, 18 was truly there besides him._

_'What are you doing?'_

_He looked up at her, surprised. She scoffed at him, upset with how lazy he was. Sleeping there on the grass, doing nothing on a bright sunny day like this._

_He realized he had dreamt everything. His wounds, his death...he had dreamt it all. He didn't even realize he had been asleep. It truly felt refreshing._

_'Come on, there's so much to do!' she insisted, lending a hand to help him get up._

_'Come on, get up!' she called for him again, pulling in closer._

_He raised his own hand to grab hers._

_'Let's go' she beckoned him again as he reached out for her._

_He couldn't grab her. She was just beyond his reach. So, so very close, and yet so far, like a chasm was stretching inbetween them._

_He realized something._

_'Let's go, Lapis'_

* * *

He looked up at his severed arm stretched towards the bright energy beam with a glazed look in his eyes. He still tried to reach her, knowing she was up there in that brightness. He couldn't hold her hand anymore, but he could touch her. And that was enough.

Trunks fired the shot in a curve, pressing him against the concrete and avoiding blowing a hole through the ground. It was strong enough to kill someone far, far more powerful than the cyborg, but he wanted to make sure it would work this time.

17 evaporated slowly.

Slow enough for him to show one last look of satisfaction as he moved his elbow closer to himself as if he was holding something invisible.

"Alright, I got you...let's go" he said before disappearing into a cloud of ashes.


End file.
